Initiated by the World Heart Federation in 1999, September 29 is dedicated to World Heart Day.
This awareness-raising day was created to inform the world that cardiovascular disease, heart disease and stroke are the leading causes of death worldwide.

What are cardiovascular diseases?

In 2017, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that 17.7 million deaths were linked to cardiovascular disease, representing 31% of total global mortality. How can we define them?
They refer to a group of disorders affecting the blood vessels and heart.

Many diseases exist under this name, for example :

• coronary heart disease
• congenital heart defects (malformations of the heart already present at birth)
• rheumatic heart disease (caused by poorly treated bacterial infection, such as angina)

The WHO has noted that in developing countries, the risk of cardiovascular disease is higher due to numerous disparities:

• Lack of training for medical teams
• The absence of a prevention program or screening campaign
• The cost of care and treatment is too high for the population
• Lack of access to hospital infrastructure

That’s why non-governmental organizations (NGOs) like La Chaîne de l’Espoir are working to provide access to healthcare, and in particular to medical treatment for cardiovascular disease.

La Chaîne de l’Espoir and children undergoing heart surgery

Since 1994, cardiac pathologies have been at the heart of many of La Chaîne de l’Espoir’s actions in different countries, with the aim of reducing inequalities in access to healthcare for children around the world.
We go even further, transferring medical skills to local teams and building and equipping hospitals so that sick children can be operated on in their own countries. Two examples illustrate this long-term approach:

• The Centre Cardio-pédiatrique Cuomo de Dakar (CCPC) in Senegal: after its first open-heart operation in 2017, the CCPC has become a reference center for heart disease in West Africa.
• Local Cambodian teams, trained in particular by Pr Gérard Babatasi, head of the cardiac surgery department at Caen University Hospital and vice-president of La Chaîne de l’Espoir, have been autonomous for years in the treatment of simple heart disease.

How can I take part in World Heart Day 2022?

You too can take part in this day. With your invaluable support, La Chaîne de l’Espoir can strengthen and expand its actions to save children. Thanks to all the links in this chain of solidarity, thousands of children suffering in particular from cardiac pathologies have been treated, operated on and saved, such as Kayla, Thida and Luan.